Gazprom Dobycha Nadym helping volunteers clean up Vilkitsky Island in Russian Arctic
News from projects and regions
The environmental expedition to Vilkitsky Island organized by the Russian Center for Arctic Development with support from Gazprom Dobycha Nadym has drawn to a close. The big cleanup, which took place in the former location of a meteorological station, was assisted by volunteers from Green Arctic, an interregional ecosocial NGO. In the course of a month, seven employees of the Center and ten volunteers from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vorkuta, Novy Urengoy, and Kazakhstan cleaned up a two-hectare area of land.
The volunteers sorted out metal structures from 20 locations collected during previous expeditions and delivered them to a temporary warehouse for subsequent removal from the island, poured more than 100 cubic meters of fuel and lubricants into a tank for further disposal, and manually extracted over 200 fuel drums from sand and took them to the storage site.
“Due to sticky soil, it was practically impossible to use specialized machinery, so we had to roll most of these containers for up to two kilometers. In the first two weeks, we compacted almost 1,500 of these fuel drums using a special unit,” said Evgeny Rozhkovsky, Chairman of Green Arctic.
In order to assess the man-made impacts on the ecosystem of Vilkitsky Island, an environmental engineer from Russian State Hydrometeorological University was engaged in the environmental studies. The expert established the precise coordinates of polluted areas, collected soil and sediment samples, conducted environmental monitoring, and prepared descriptions of the natural environment.
Environmental activists have been collecting scrap metal around island and stockpiling it for future removal since 2017
“In the period since 2017, volunteers of Green Arctic have done an enormous amount of work. This expedition is their last. The team of our Center is taking over the reclamation activities on the island from now on. We plan to start removing trash to the mainland in 2022,” said Andrey Umnikov, Director of the Russian Center for Arctic Development.
Post environmental cleanup, masters of Arctic will receive Vilkitsky Island in pristine condition
Gazprom Dobycha Nadym has been financially supporting the environmental movement since 2018. The funds are used to buy gear, special clothing, consumables, and food.
Background
Gazprom Dobycha Nadym is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom. The company's key activities are production and treatment of gas and gas condensate.
Gazprom Dobycha Nadym was the first gas production company in the north of Western Siberia. It was created to develop and operate the Medvezhye oil, gas and condensate field. It is now also involved in production at the Yubileynoye, Yamsoveyskoye, and Bovanenkovskoye fields. The company holds the license for the development of the Kharasaveyskoye gas and condensate field, where pre-development is in progress.
Area of activity: Nadymsky, Purovsky, and Yamalsky Districts of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area. Gazprom Dobycha Nadym is the key job provider in the town of Nadym and the Pangody settlement. The company's team comprises over 9,500 employees.
Gazprom Dobycha Nadym has 13 operating gas facilities and 14 specialized branches. The annual gas production of the company is over 100 billion cubic meters.
The company has adopted an environmental management system in accordance with the ISO 14001:2015 standard.